Harry Potter and the Zodiac Keeper
by The JP
Summary: Harry is sent to Azkaban Prison for the murders of Cedric Diggory and the Dursleys. Problem is, he's innocent, and nobody believes him... until destiny intervenes. What does the hidden power of the Zodiac have to do with Harry? Girl!Harry, T for safety.
1. Destiny Intervenes

**I got the idea for this story after reading the Shadow Mage story by SHAWNIE, and found it more than just a little interesting. The premise was good, the story was believable, but the dialogue made me want to rip my hair out. While reading I kept imagining what would happen if I took a dash of Final Fantasy XII (12, for those who can't read Roman numerals) and sprinkled it in, when my muse appeared and wouldn't stop bugging me. And so, I must write the idea that appeared in my head, or the muse won't stop bugging me. Go away muse, I'm writing!**

**Note: This will be a Harry turned girl fic, like the Shadow Mage story. If you've played FFXII and are hoping for a random Balthier appearance… you're out of luck. **

**Note #2: I have this hunch that because I am male I will have a horribly hard time writing a girl Harry fic. If any of you girls out there reading this would please lend me a hand I would be grateful, because while women read me like a book, I will never understand them.**

**Disclaimer: We all know this: I'm not J.K. Rowling. I only own my original plot line. Thank you very much, and enjoy my **_**histoire**_** (French for story).**

**Oh yeah! If any beta is interested in reading the story (or any of my others) for me, please contact me. Thank you.**

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**Azkaban Prison, Maximum Security Level**

Azkaban Prison. Azkaban is the most dreary, dark, depressing place that could possibly exist in the wizarding world. Dementors flew about this dark, crumbling fortress, ensuring that no prisoner can escape by constantly evoking the prisoners' worst memories, simply be approaching the convicts.

On the maximum-security level of Azkaban, which was conveniently placed in the dungeons, there was a prisoner. He was wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and was sentenced to life in Azkaban without so much as a trial. There was no need for the application of Veritaserum, the Minister said; oh no, there was plenty of evidence to lock him away for life.

And so, because of the folly of Cornelius Fudge, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, Savior of the Wizarding World, was trapped in a cell in Azkaban Prison, enduring a far worse fate than even his godfather Sirius Black had to.

Every night, the nightmares came, sent to him through his link with Voldemort. The reactions of the entire wizarding world to what he had done. The incriminating stares of those he had considered allies. The harsh words of the professors, who had mentored him, treated him like a son. But worst of all, the betrayal; the agonizing betrayal of his two supposed best friends: Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry's memories of the single day leading up to his imprisonment in Azkaban were cloudy at best. But his two best friends chose the worst course of action: to do nothing at all.

Ron and Hermione didn't even attempt to protest Harry's imprisonment. All they could do was stare at him blankly, not speaking, not moving, not doing so much as smiling or frowning. It didn't matter that his friends hadn't incriminated him in the crime; to Harry, the most evil thing a person could do was to stand on the sidelines and do nothing at all.

And that was what his friends had done.

The charges levied against him were great: the murder of Cedric Diggory, the spreading of lies involving the return of the Dark Lord Voldemort, but most importantly, the murder of the three Muggles Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley. The wand used had been Harry's; the Aurors had determined as such via the use of the _Priori Incantantem_ charm. But it had not been Harry using the wand that night.

_**Flashback…**_

Harry had been sent up to his room an hour prior after cooking dinner for the Dursleys for not finishing his chores on time. He had been in the middle of his summer Potions homework when he heard something like the door being blown open by the _Reducto_ spell. Harry bolted dead upright, barely managing to not spill the ink well. Capping the bottle hurriedly, he scrambled over to his closet in search of his wand, before cursing himself and realizing that it was downstairs. He pulled his Invisibility Cloak over his head, and snuck downstairs… just in time to witness Lucius Malfoy use Harry's wand to kill the Dursleys.

Vernon had dropped dead first, followed by Dudley, leaving Petunia to suffer last. Upon finishing the cast, Malfoy dropped the wand and started walking out. Harry was too stunned to move; the scene was so similar to that nightmare from when he was a baby. Regaining his wits, he grabbed his wand from the floor and uttered a small spell so that he would gain the attention of the Ministry of Magic, and explain what had happened.

But when the Ministry arrived, they had immediately stunned Harry and taken him to a holding cell. He awoke in a Ministry holding cell, with all of his Hogwarts professors rattling off at him, Fudge reading the list of charges, and Ron and Hermione staring blankly, stunned expressions on their faces. When he was sentenced by Fudge, he was dragged off, calling out to Ron and Hermione to help him. But they did nothing. Nothing at all.

_**End Flashback…**_

As Harry pulled himself out of the painful memory, a pair of Dementors passed by his cell. After revisiting the memory, the strain the Dementors placed on his emotions was too much; Harry blacked out, fading into unconsciousness.

Hours later, Harry awoke in the middle of the night. It was perfectly dark, and there were no Dementors in the vicinity. Just then, a blindingly bright light appeared on the wall of Harry's cell. He turned to look at the light, and he saw a strange symbol gleaming against the dreary wall.

The symbol was in the shape of two concentric circles, very much resembling an eye's iris and pupil. In the outer circle, Harry clearly saw the twelve signs of the Zodiac, where his own sign, Leo, was gleaming slightly brighter than the rest. In the inner circle, he saw a strange symbol that he had never seen before, which oddly enough reminded Harry of Dudley's small Illuminati craze back during the summer before his third year of Hogwarts. Dudley had gotten over that phase in three days, but Harry forever remembered how the Illuminati symbols could be read backwards and forwards, and the symbol in the circle was no different.

Another bright light appeared, and Harry covered his eyes with his hand. When the glow lessened, Harry lowered his hand, and was startled to see the ghostly image of an old man in front of him. The old man had strange, striped robes on, the stripes shifting in a pattern of thirteen different colors constantly. On closer observation, Harry saw that as each stripe shifted, a symbol appeared in it: the first six had a Zodiac sign, the middle with the strange, unrecognizable symbol, and the last six with the remaining Zodiac signs. The man was completely bald, and had a long, silver beard that trailed down to the bottom of his robes. If he had been on the floor, the beard would have been dragging across it. Harry looked up at the man's face, and was shocked to realize that the man's blue irises and pupils held the symbol that had appeared on the wall: the Zodiac signs and the strange symbol in the middle, resting within his iris and pupil respectively. Slowly, Harry rose to his feet, wary of the intruder, and yet not sensing any ill intent from the man.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Harry said, backing away from the man, suspicion evident in his emerald eyes. The elderly man was unfazed, and floated slightly closer to Harry.

'Do not be afraid, my boy' the man said, without moving his lips. It took Harry merely a second to realize that the man was speaking directly into Harry's thoughts. 'I do not wish you any harm. My intents are friendly, although I should have introduced myself as soon as I made myself apparent.'

The spectre bowed low, his ethereal beard sinking through the floor. 'Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Leonidas Zodiarkus, the last heir to the House of the Zodiac, and at the moment, the final Zodiac Keeper. I, like you, was wrongly imprisoned in this very cell, three hundred years ago. The difference is that I could have escaped. However, I received a… vision, of sorts. The vision showed me what the world would have degraded to had I escaped from Azkaban, instead of remaining here as a spirit, in the hopes that the heir to the powers of the House of the Zodiac would eventually be found. I appeared to you, Mr. Potter, because I believe you to be the heir to the powers of the House of the Zodiac.'

Harry very nearly stumbled backwards as Leonidas finished his speech. "But sir," a very shocked Harry began, "what is this power of the House of the Zodiac?"

Leonidas let out a small chuckle before explaining. 'I cannot explain the full extent of the powers of the House… the true limits must be discovered by the heir apparent themselves. I can tell you, however, that the heir to the power of the House is granted control over the thirteen Scions of the Zodiac.'

"Thirteeen? I thought there were twelve signs?" Harry blurted out, before noticing the thirteenth marking in the circular symbol.

'There are but twelve Zodiac signs, you are correct. However, the symbol in the center of the House crest represents the thirteenth; the Keeper of Precepts. The secrets to controlling that scion are only unlocked by the most powerful of the House's heirs, and I unfortunately cannot count myself among them.'

"So what do you intend to do?" Harry questioned the spirit. "Make me into the heir of the house?"

'You are correct in your assumption Mr. Potter… but there is one complication. You see, the way the powers of the House of the Zodiac work, is that every Keeper must be the opposite gender of the Keeper before them. If I were to grant you the powers of the House, the power transfer spell would change your gender in the process, as well as make you the heir to the house by blood.'

"So you mean to tell me that if I wish to leave Azkaban, that I would have to change myself into a girl for the remainder of my life? Is there any way around this requirement?" Harry asked, growing more and more concerned by the second.

'Unfortunately, no. If I were to grant you the powers of the House while leaving you male at the same time, you would be ripped apart by the power, and likely cause the downfall of wizarding society, as would have happened had I escaped Azkaban, and transferred the powers to my only son. That being said, Mr. Potter, the offer still stands. Will you accept the powers of the House, as well as the new appearance, name, and identity that must be accepted along with this?' Leonidas asked, while conjuring a silver sphere of magic in his hand. The sphere may have been small, but Harry could feel the incredible power of the magic condensed within.

"I don't really see any other option at this point," Harry replied sternly, concern creeping into his voice. "I never cared for the Boy-Who-Lived title anyways; that was just a way for every other wizard in the world to throw their problems onto me. This way, I might finally be able to live my life without everybody dumping their issues onto me, like their scapegoat," Harry uttered, raising his head up and summoning all the Gryffindor bravery he could. "Leonidas Zodiarkus, I accept the power of the House of Zodiarkus, and the name, appearance, and identity that must accompany the title of Zodiac Keeper."

Leonidas smiled. 'I knew you would,' he answered, before sending the ball of light closer to Harry. 'Do not fight the Bloodlines Spell, or this entire process would have been for naught. The spell is designed to alter your body and genes so that you may inherit the powers,' Leonidas said to the unsure boy. 'Reach out and touch the sphere. Then, the Bloodlines Spell will be cast upon you, and the powers of the House will be accepted into your body.'

Harry did as he was told, and as he touched the sphere, he felt a strange sensation. The next moment, a bright light engulfed his senses, and all faded to black, but not before Harry heard Leonidas' voice in his thoughts one last time before losing consciousness: 'I hereby name you Samantha Zodiarkus, heir to the House of the Zodiac, and the new Zodiac Keeper.'

**Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Office**

At the same time that Harry was receiving the power of the Zodiac Keeper, back at Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore was staring into space, trying to comprehend what had happened. As Fudge saw it, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and Savior of the Wizarding World, had murdered Cedric Diggory, Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, and Dudley Dursley in cold blood. The _Priori Incantantem_ that Fudge had cast on Harry's wand had proven that the Killing Curse was cast with the boy's wand… but Dumbledore was unsure. Why had Fudge been so anxious to sentence Harry to life in Azkaban? Dumbledore was suspicious. And he did what he always did when he was suspicious: act on his thoughts.

Dumbledore went over to the fireplace, and pulled some Floo Powder out of a small pot resting on the mantelpiece, while pocketing a vial of an unknown potion at the same time. He threw the powder into the fire, and called out "Ministry of Magic, Minister Fudge's Office!" The fire turned green, and Dumbledore stepped through, reappearing in the office of the Minister of Magic, who was busy with paperwork. Cornelius Fudge turned his head, and strangely enough was sneering at Dumbledore. The sneer left his face immediately after it had been there, but Dumbledore had seen it.

"Ah, Albus, how nice to see you! What brings you here?" Albus didn't answer. He could feel that something was wrong with the Minister, something he hadn't noticed before because of everybody else's magic. Dumbledore raised his wand so that it was pointed at the Minister. "What are you doing, Albus? Have you completely lost your mind?!" Fudge was about to signal for help when Dumbledore cast a simple incantation.

"_Finite Incantantem!" _The effect was immediate. Fudge's eyes glazed over for a split second before snapping back into focus, and the Minister very nearly collapsed. He gazed at Dumbledore confused. "Minister, you were under the Imperius Curse, probably because of one Lucius Malfoy. I have some Veritaserum for questioning. Do you know where Lucius is?"

A few minutes later, they had found Malfoy, and questioned him with the aid of Veritaserum. The realization was horrifying.

"My god Albus," Fudge stammered out. "Potter was framed… and because I wasn't strong enough to fight off the Imperius…" Fudge's body was racked with shivers, and he broke down.

"Minister," Dumbledore said calmly, "we must make our way to Azkaban, and liberate Mr. Potter before he goes mad from the Dementors. They affect him more than most people. Where is the Floo that leads to Azkaban?" Cornelius Fudge pointed over at a hallway that was filled with dozens of Floo entrances. Dumbledore and Fudge walked calmly over to the one with a golden plaque above it, with the engraving 'Azkaban'. The two of them reached into a pot, grabbed out some powder in each of their hands, threw the powder into the fire, and were off.

**Azkaban Prison, Maximum Security Level**

In the cell of Harry Potter, there were two bodies where once there was one: the now lifeless body of Harry Potter, and the body of an unknown girl. The girl brought herself to her feet, and muttered an expletive under her breath before looking over and seeing her old body.

"At least now I can live without anybody wondering where I went, since as far as they know I'm dead," the girl, whose body housed the soul of Harry Potter, said. She drew herself to her full height, and was slightly disappointed to see that she was a mere five and a half feet tall.

'Ah… I see you are awake, Samantha. I took it upon myself to give you a new name, befitting your new gender, and gave you one more fitting of the times. I was tempted to name you Ashelia… but that is a name one would have seen three centuries ago. I can only inform you of one of your powers before I must cross over to the afterlife: teleportation. This is not apparition; it cannot be tracked, or blocked by any wards.' The girl, newly named Samantha, looked around, trying to see Leonidas. 'I am too weak because of the power transfer to materialize myself; I apologize.' At that moment, Samantha felt a strange sensation in the back of her eyes, and a number of images suddenly entered her head, which she distinguished as the location of a mansion.

'That is the mansion of the House of the Zodiac. It is yours by inheritance. Do not worry about it being three hundred years behind; the charms on the mansion automatically update the contents to keep with the time period. Also, it is unplottable. Once you are there, I would suggest gathering up the fourteen books on the Scions and other powers of the House and entering the time displacement room, so that you may learn all you can in as little time as possible.'

"Thank you, Leonidas," Samantha uttered softly.

'You are welcome, my heir. Sadly, it is time for me to leave this world. Good luck in your pursuits; with the strength now vested in you, Voldemort will fall. I must bid you farewell. So long Samantha; may you live long and happy.'

With those final words, Samantha felt Leonidas' presence withdraw from inside her mind, and was overtaken by a strange sadness. She had lost somebody else…

She quickly shook off the feeling, and closed her eyes, concentrating on the manor she had seen in her mind. With a flash of light, she vanished from Azkaban prison.

Not twenty minutes later, Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge navigated their way to Harry's cell. When the two of them arrived, they were crestfallen to see that Harry was on the floor lifeless. Dumbledore walked slowly up to the fallen body of Harry Potter.

"Is he…" Cornelius Fudge began, unable to finish. Dumbledore checked for a pulse, and found none.

"I am afraid so, Minister," Dumbledore replied, his voice shaky. "Harry Potter is dead."

**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

With a flash of light, Samantha appeared in front of the manor. She looked around at her surroundings, and was surprised to find the manor in an area similar to what was surrounding Hogwarts. Samantha walked up to the manor, and upon placing her hand on the door handle, she felt a strange sensation in her hand and her eyes. Looking down, she saw that the crest of the House of the Zodiac had appeared on the back of her hand, fading as quickly as it had appeared.

Samantha pushed open the door to the manor, and almost fainted at the sight. _This is… incredible…_ she thought.

She couldn't describe what she was seeing, and was so absorbed by the sight that she jumped two feet in the air when a female house elf appeared in front of her.

"Good evening, mistress! My name is Leah. You are the first mistress this mansion has seen in three centuries; it is good to know that Leonidas finally received some rest. Would you like to be escorted to your quarters?"

"Actually, Leah, could I have some dinner first?" Samantha inquired, still not used to the female voice escaping her mouth.

"Of course, right this way!" the house elf replied, leading Samantha to a large dining room, where enough food appeared to more than make up for what she had not been given in Azkaban.

After she had had her fill, Leah lead Samantha up to her quarters, pointing out that the dresser and drawers had automatically filled with all the Muggle and wizarding clothing that Samantha would need, including undergarments. With a blush, Samantha asked Leah to leave the room, and then took the time to examine her new self in front of the full-length mirror.

_My lord… if I were still a boy, I would have been drooling by now… _she thought to herself, staring into the mirror.

Her body was what she would have called the epitome of female beauty. Perfectly proportioned, curved in all the right places, and everything else that she would have considered attractive in a female as a boy. But what was most striking was her hair.

Samantha's hair hung down to roughly her mid-back, and was a shocking silver color, except for twelve multi-colored strands on the left side of her head, near her bangs. She surmised that each of the twelve strands represented a sign of the Zodiac, while the remainder of her silver hair represented the thirteenth symbol in the House crest. Samantha quickly pulled up her long bangs, and was relieved to see that the lightning bolt scar was gone, and with it her connection to Voldemort.

Leaning in closer to the mirror, she noticed her eyes. The irises were a bright silver color, with twelve black markings positioned in the iris, each in the form of a Zodiac sign. In her pupils, she saw the thirteenth symbol that she had seen in Leonidas' eyes and back at Azkaban. But what did the thirteenth symbol mean?

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Samantha quickly pulled on some sleep clothing, and made her way over to the king-size, four-poster bed. She was amazed at how comfortable the bed was after her stay at Azkaban, and seconds after her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.


	2. The Spear and Three Old Friends

**Well, what did you all think of chapter one? I couldn't post it up when I was done, due to crapping out on me… of course.**

**Anyways, here's the next chapter. As always, reviews are more than welcome, and a beta reader wouldn't be that bad… unless of course the beta readers say that I should be a beta reader instead of asking for one. That would be funny. And girls… please help a guy out in writing a girl!Harry fic… it's not even remotely easy…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or FFXII. Happy? Good!**

**P.S: Wow… that's a lot of alerts… didn't think I would get that many people interested in this so quickly… but you know what I like more than alert notices? **_**Reviews**_**. You see the little green button? It's not going to cast the killing curse on you, so go ahead, click it, and review. Thanks again.**

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**Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts**

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, quill in hand, parchment in front of him, tears dripping down his face. Just the day before, he had realized that Harry Potter was innocent of the four murders of which he had been accused. And yet, even with that realization, Dumbledore hadn't arrived on time. Harry Potter was dead… and he was to blame.

After seeing Harry's dead body, Dumbledore and Fudge paid visits to both the Weasley and Granger households, confirming more of their suspicions: both Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley had been placed under the Imperius curse, so that they could not offer support, or press for a trial. They couldn't do anything, really. They had been turned into mindless puppets by means of the Imperius curse, and could do nothing to aid their best friend.

Upon further investigation, Dumbledore had found remnants of a rage-inducing potion in the food and beverage of all the Hogwarts staff the night that Harry had been sentenced. The potion inhibited the drinker's ability to feel any emotion aside from rage, and transferred all emotions to said rage. The professors didn't want to rant at Harry, well, aside from one Severus Snape. They had wanted to help Harry, but due to the potion, they could do nothing to help him. Instead, they were forced to be pawns in the Dark Lord's game.

Somehow, Dumbledore pulled himself together long enough to inform the student and parent body of Hogwarts that Harry Potter was dead, Granger and Weasley had been under the Imperius curse during the sentencing, and the entire staff had been drugged. The parchment had multiple tearstains on it, and as Dumbledore cast a duplication spell on the parchment to make enough for all the students, and sent it out, the tears kept spilling down his face.

Dumbledore buried his head in his hands, the tears streaming down his face. What had he done?...

**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

After Samantha had woken up, Leah the house elf had presented her with enough food to feed a small army. She couldn't finish even close to all of it, and once she had had her fill, she got up, took a much-needed shower (Azkaban wasn't exactly known for its cleanliness), and accustomed herself to putting on female clothing. She would have to do that for the rest of her life anyways.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Samantha noticed that her eyes didn't have the Zodiac signs or the strange center symbol at the moment. Instead, her eyes were a startling silver color that seemed to gleam in the sunlight that was streaming through the window.

Satisfied with her appearance, Samantha went down to the library, and gathered up the fourteen books Leonidas had instructed her to, but also found a note on top of them. She opened up the note, and read it.

_To whom it may concern:_

_I trust that whoever you are, you are the new heir to the House of the Zodiac, and the most recent Zodiac Keeper. I know you have been instructed to enter the Temporal Displacement chamber, and practice with your new abilities, but I must insist that first you go to Diagon Alley, and retrieve certain family heirlooms that will aid in this process. There is a vault key enclosed, leading to the largest vault in Gringotts' Bank. Use the contents of the vault wisely._

_Your predecessor,_

_Leonidas Zodiarkus_

Samantha finished reading the letter, and turned the envelope over, feeling a key slip into her hand. It was, in fact, a vault key. She quickly pocketed it, and closed her eyes, concentrating on Diagon Alley. A brief flash of light later, and Samantha was gone.

**Diagon Alley**

Upon arrival in Diagon Alley, Samantha had gone to Gringotts' first. The goblin (who just so happened to be Griphook) looked as if his eyes were about to fall out and start rolling on the floor when he saw that Samantha was the heir to House Zodiarkus. He led her down to the largest vault in Gringotts', and when he opened it, Samantha couldn't help but be utterly amazed at what she saw.

On the left wall, there was the equivalent of an entire armory of weapons. She could sense an intense amount of magic coming off of each and every weapon, with a placard underneath attesting to each and every weapon's name, identity, and magical properties. Upon further investigation, one of the great swords there even happened to be Excalibur!

Next to the weaponry collection, there was a large set of armor. Samantha picked up one piece of armor that looked to be worked completely from mirrors. She pulled out a placard, and read it.

Object: Mirror Mail. Reflects every form of spell imaginable, including the Killing Curse, unless the caster is channeling his or her spells through an opal.

Samantha wasn't sure why an opal stopped the armor from working, but she quickly placed it in her bag (found in the Zodiac Keeper's manor), which was charmed to make any items inside weightless, and also to have infinite capacity. Whoever had created it deserved a pat on the back, Samantha thought.

On the right side of the vault, an enormous pile of galleons lay on the floor. Quickly, Samantha scooped up four bags of galleons, with each bag holding ten thousand. Thank goodness for lightening charms! Chancing another look at the vault, Samantha was amazed to see a library of unique books that would make Dumbledore green with envy. Samantha picked out a few promising ones on Forgotten Magics and wandless magic, and left the rest in the vault.

However, Samantha stopped as her eyes fell upon the centerpiece of the vault. There was a single weapon separated from the veritable armory occupying the left wall, and she couldn't venture a guess as to why. Slowly, she approached the weapon.

It was a brilliant, gold and silver spear, whose surface seemed to shimmer as though the metals were blending together. Upon closer inspection, a little voice in the back of her head informed Samantha that the weapon was worked in orichalcum and adamantite.

There was a main handle in the middle of the shaft, and a secondary handle closer to the head. The blade itself was charmed to go through any shields and to stop any spells, Samantha noticed. All along the blade, the Zodiac signs were carved at varying intervals, in a repeating pattern spiraling downwards along the weapon. On the blade itself, the house coat of arms could be seen emblazoned proudly.

Samantha looked down, and saw a letter on the spear's stand. With shaky hands, she leaned down to pick it up, opened it, and read.

_To whom it may concern,_

_The weapon in front of you is the Zodiac Spear. It is a weapon that may only be used by the heir to the House of the Zodiac, and is ensorcelled in such a way that anybody else who attempts to use the weapon will be unable to lift it off the ground. The weapon also transfigures itself into a powerful wand with thirteen separate magical cores; the first twelve being the gemstones associated with the Zodiac signs, and the thirteenth being a rare gem that as of yet has no name, and has been called a soul essence by some. The spear transfigures to a wand via the will of the wielder, and returns to normal form at a whim as well. Should the wand or spear be dropped, it will return to the Zodiac Keeper's pocket or wand holster in wand form within ten seconds. Use its power wisely, and be careful who you let see the Spear in its true form._

_Your predecessor,_

_Leonidas Zodiarkus_

It seemed that the old spirit had thought of everything before he'd died. Samantha reached out to touch the spear, and felt a strange comforting sensation upon holding it. She willed it to become a wand, and the next moment she was holding a thirteen-inch long wand in her hand. She was certain that Ollivander would have paid anything to be able to see the wand, but she knew from the letter that he would be unable to hold it.

Samantha went over to the weapon rack, pulled off a few of the more powerful-looking weapons (Excalibur and a sword whose placard said Durandal included, as well as a bow that was called Sagittarius) into her bottomless bag. Satisfied, she left the vault, and Griphook took her back up to the surface.

_Now for some new robes,_ Samantha thought, when somebody bumped into her, dropping their books and belongings.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Samantha said, helping to gather up the books. She straightened the stack of books… and froze.

"I'm sorry, thanks for helping me!" Ginny Weasley said as she accepted her books from Samantha. The latter girl was having a hard time fighting down her emotions, but she was glad it was Ginny and not Ron or Hermione; Mrs. Weasley had kept Ginny home for the sentencing, whereas Ron and Hermione had been allowed to come as her two closest friends. Fat lot of good they did her.

"I don't think I've seen you around here before," Ginny said, reaching her hand out. "Ginny Weasley. And you are?"

"Samantha Zodiarkus," Samantha said, extending her own hand, and shaking Ginny's lightly.

"I don't think I've ever heard that last name before… and I've never seen you at Hogwarts either." Ginny was slightly confused over the unfamiliar name, and Samantha realized she would have to spin a lie fast.

"That's because I've been home schooled," Samantha said quickly, as this was the most believable statement she could think of. "If I went to Hogwarts this year, which I'm thinking of doing, I would end up in fifth year."

"I'm going into my fourth year," Ginny replied back, and then blushed as her stomach grumbled. Samantha looked down and checked her watch, startled to see that it was past noon. "What time is it?" Ginny asked.

"Half past noon," Samantha replied. "Why don't we get lunch at the Leaky Cauldron?" Ginny promptly agreed, and the two of them headed over to the pub.

**The Leaky Cauldron**

"So where did you come from before we bumped into each other?" Ginny asked her new friend, taking a small bite out of her hamburger.

"I had to get some money and other things out of Gringotts', including a few special books for my home schooling," Samantha fibbed. She was acting more and more feminine by the minute; for example, she wasn't eating in even a remotely similar fashion to how she had eaten when she was Harry. As a boy, she would just shove the food into her mouth until there wasn't any left. Instead, she was taking her time, daintily taking small bites, and (for once) not speaking with her mouth full… though it certainly helped in not tipping Ginny off that something was different about her new friend. **(A/N: Yes, I do eat by shoving all food in sight into my mouth… as such, I have a tendency to overeat, but hey, it tastes so **_**good**_**!)**

"That sounds neat," Ginny replied. "Hogwarts is incredibly interesting; one of the strangest things though is that every new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we get doesn't usually last through the whole year. Every year I've been there, I've had a different teacher, and the first one, Gilderoy Lockhart, was a fraud! I can't believe that—" Ginny immediately stopped talking, as she looked up and waved at somebody. "I hope you don't mind, but my brother and his friend were in the area, so they're coming to say hello. You don't mind, do you?"

Samantha very nearly froze, but instead shook her head and gave a small smile. Ginny wouldn't have been able to tell that it was one of unease; Samantha knew that the only brother of hers that would have a friend with him would be Ron, because she'd known for years that Ron and Hermione were likely to become a couple.

And speak of the devil; Ron and Hermione were standing in front of the table. Samantha looked up at Ron, and knew something was off. She knew him almost better than he knew himself, and she could tell when he was in a funk. Hermione, on the other hand, was fairly cheery on the outside, but Samantha could practically see the waves of discomfort just beneath the surface.

"Ron, Hermione, how are you two?" Ginny said cheerfully.

"Ron's still drowning in a river in Egypt… I can't quite put it through his head that somebody actually got the Imperius curse off on us, and that he couldn't fight it. The reason it's an Unforgivable is because of its power, but somehow he can't stop beating himself up about it." Hermione paused for a second, her eyes falling on Samantha. The silver-haired girl took a quiet, sharp hiss of breath (how this was possible she didn't know) and continued breathing. "It seems you've made a new friend, Ginny. I'm Hermione Granger. Do I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

Samantha scooted aside so that Hermione could sit next to her, and Ginny did the same for Ron, the two of them waiting for the new arrivals to get comfortable.

"My name's Samantha Zodiarkus. I've been home schooled for the past four years, though I'm considering applying for Hogwarts," Samantha replied, carefully placing a mask of cheer on her face and enthusiasm in her voice to hide the shock at hearing that Ron and Hermione had been under the Imperius. Was that why they hadn't pushed for a trial? Samantha banished the thought from her mind, to see a very wide-eyed Hermione.

"Did you just say Zodiarkus? I've read of that house!" Hermione paused for a second, thinking. "But how is that possible, the last one died three hundred years ago…" Hermione trailed off, lost in thought. Samantha heard a small voice in the back of her head again, prompting her what to say, even though at the time she didn't know the information that was to come from her mouth.

"That is true, the last one died three hundred years ago. The family has its own quirks, though. The heir to the house must be of the opposite gender each time, and every third generation a Bloodline Alteration spell must be used to bring a new member into the house and prevent inbreeding, and to designate this new member as the heir. Also, every single heir is predetermined centuries in advance, so if something were to happen and the generations skipped, the next heir would already be chosen." Samantha could hardly believe what she had just said; her becoming the next heir had been predetermined centuries in advance?!

"That _is_ strange," Hermione said.

"That's a bloody load," Ron said in a very pissed off voice. "How the bloody hell could they know that somebody was going to be born centuries in advance?" Samantha had to hide her irritation with her—_Harry's_—best friend. Eventually she'd tell them… just not now.

"How should I know? I just happen to be the first member of the House for three centuries. I just got back from the Gringotts' vault; it's the largest vault in the bank!"

"Were there any rare books in it?" Samantha sighed. Of course, leave it to Hermione to associate Gringotts' vaults and books. With a defeated look, Samantha reached into her bag and pulled out a book on wandless magic, almost accidentally pulling out Excalibur. Now _that_ would have caused some havoc. Hermione squealed in delight when she saw the book, and proceeded to attempt a duplication charm… with _attempt_ being the key word. No sooner than she had cast it did three daisies sprout from her wand. She tried three more times, only to result in twelve daisies total sprouting. "Anti-duplication charms?" Hermione pouted. "Are there any ways around them?"

"I think only the heir is allowed to duplicate them," Samantha said, holding her hand out for the book. Hermione handed it to the silver-haired girl, who proceeded to cast a duplication charm… successfully. Hermione squealed louder than before, and quickly reached out, snatched the duplicate, and hugged it to her chest. "Er… you're welcome?" Samantha asked, clearly surprised. She had known Hermione for a long time, but had never seen her react like this!

The four friends proceeded to talk for an unknown period of time, with the conversation winding its way back to Harry Potter every ten minutes or so, only for Samantha to switch the topic, being careful not to let her former identity slip. Eventually, Ron got fed up with Samantha's seeming anathema towards talking about Harry Potter.

"Samantha, not to be rude or anything, but is there a reason you keep changing the topic off of my best mate? I'm still having a hard time thinking he's gone, and maybe talking about it could help! Why do you have such a problem talking about him?"

"Because I believe that somebody who's dead deserves a little peace!" Samantha snapped, and her three friends all winced, not at her statement, but something else. "What, is there something in my teeth?" she asked sheepishly.

"Samantha… your eyes…" Hermione said cautiously, pulling out a make-up compact (she hadn't even known Hermione carried one of those… she always presumed Hermione never wore make-up almost on principle) and showed it to Samantha, revealing that her eyes had changed to the strange Zodiac symbol again.

"There's nothing wrong with my eyes, Hermione. They just do that." Hermione was very accepting of the strangeness, and Ginny was as well. As for Ron…

"Ronald Billius Weasley, please stop looking at me like I'm some kind of freak." Ron stopped staring, only to have his jaw drop. Hermione and Ginny turned to look at Samantha, surprised. She was inwardly cursing herself; she shouldn't have known Ron's full name. Or should she have?...

"How the bloody hell did you know my middle name?" a very surprised Ron said, spilling pumpkin juice down his shirt. Samantha cast a quick charm to remove the juice from Ron's shirt before answering.

"I know a lot of things about a lot of people and a lot of places." Samantha paused for a second, hoping that the little voice that was somehow in the back of her head would assist her again. It came through. "I also happen to know that the Loch Ness Monster was a failed experiment by a dark wizard who tried to artificially create a leviathan," she said, thanking the little voice in the back of her head again. She could have sworn she heard it say 'don't mention it', but it must have been her imagination.

"Blimey, mate! That's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed, spilling pumpkin juice on himself… again. This time Hermione removed it with a quick charm, while an evil grin spread across Ron's face. "Then do you happen to know what Ginny's real—"

"Ginevra Weasley," Samantha interrupted, causing Hermione to shoot a look at Ginny, who was turning as red as her hair.

"How… what… nobody's supposed to know that! Or call me that!" Ginny was turning beet-red now, and Ron was laughing very hard.

Once everybody finished laughing, the conversation went back to normal. That is, until Samantha noticed the time.

"Dear lord, it's nearly four o'clock! We've been talking for _hours_!" Samantha quickly grabbed her bag, pulled out another book, duplicated it, and handed the duplicate to Hermione. "Here's a parting gift; hopefully I'll see you at Hogwarts this year, assuming I can get in. So long!" Samantha bolted out of the Leaky Cauldron, turned down an alley, and teleported back to her manor.

Back inside, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were busy talking personally now that Samantha had left.

"Something about that girl seems a little… I don't know," Ron said. "Familiar is the word I'm thinking of, but… I've never met that girl before! Have I?"

"Ron," Ginny started, cross-eyed, "if you had met a girl as pretty as her you'd have remembered it." Ron looked slightly offended by this, while Hermione was quickly glancing over the two books.

"This is incredible… these books are talking about incredibly powerful spells that can only be cast wandless! I didn't know that these existed…"

"Hermione…" Ginny said, exasperated.

"I mean, these all look so powerful… and this one, Nitesco… what does it do? I wonder…"

"Hermione," Ron and Ginny said in unison, even more perturbed.

"But still, I wonder where she would have gotten these… I mean, they're so old, and I've never seen anything like—"

"HERMIONE!" Ron and Ginny yelled in stereo. Hermione dropped the books she was holding, quickly scrabbling to pick them back up.

"Yes?" Hermione replied meekly. Ginny leaned forward, and motioned for Ron and Hermione to do the same.

"I think there's something a little too coincidental about all this," Ginny said softly. "I run into some girl I've never met, who somehow befriends the three of us as if she's known us all her life, and who also seems unable to talk about Harry Potter no matter what… anybody seeing the puzzle pieces fall into place?" Ron still looked somewhat clueless, when an awkward expression crossed his face.

"Do you think that maybe, just maybe, Harry isn't dead? You heard what that girl said about her family: every third heir must come from outside the family, and every new heir must be of the opposite gender of the previous. The Bloodline Alteration spell can also change gender, so maybe—"

"That still doesn't explain how they found Harry's _corpse_ lying on the floor of his cell in Azkaban, Ronald," Hermione explained.

"Damn it Hermione, have a little faith, will you?!" Ron hissed, banging softly on the table. "Just because they found a body doesn't mean he's dead. Sometimes the Bloodline Alteration spell makes a second body for the recipient to inhabit, especially if the changes are drastic. And I thought you would have read about a spell like that!"

"But the only one I read could do that was the Heir Transfer spe—"

"They're the same thing," Ron and Ginny chorused. Hermione blushed in amazement over the fact that she had missed a detail such as that.

"Like I said," Ginny murmured, "this all seems too coincidental. Let's all keep some tabs on Samantha, and who knows, maybe she _is_ Harry. Although why would Harry agree to change genders? I always thought he was proud of his—"

"Ginny!" Ron and Hermione yelled. Ginny blushed furiously.

"Okay, I'll drop that topic. Anyways, how about we all meet back in Diagon Alley tomorrow? I'm fairly certain Samantha forgot about whatever other errands she had to run because she bumped into me. Sounds good?" Ron and Hermione nodded, getting up from the table. Hermione went outside to catch the Knight Bus back home (which after riding upon she violently vomited) while Ron and Ginny Flooed back to their home.

None of the four had noticed the Auror watching the four of them from the bar…


	3. One Very Angry Hermione

**Thank you to **_**Shadow High Angel**_** for being the first person to give me a review! Hopefully the rest of you follow this example and click the review button instead of just adding the story to your alert lists… I mean, I like getting added to alert and favorite lists, but I would definitely enjoy a review to accompany it! **

**P.S: I just signed up to be a beta reader, so if you've got a story that fits under the categories I've agreed to beta, then send me a private message. Also, a cyber-cookie to the first person who finds out where I got the idea for the spell Nitesco from… what does that spell do? You'll have to wait to find out, though I can tell you that Umbridge will be the most likely recipient.**

**Disclaimer: *checks* Since I'm not female, I'm obviously not J.K Rowling. Happy? Good! **

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**The Leaky Cauldron**

_None of the four had noticed the Auror watching the four of them from the bar… _

The Auror quickly got up, paid the tab, and left. Nobody would have noticed the Auror's plain appearance; disguises were this one's specialty. The Auror went out of the Leaky Cauldron, following the path Samantha had taken, hoping to catch the silver-haired girl. Much to the Auror's dismay, Samantha was already gone. _Damn_. The Auror spoke a few words (expletives mostly), and apparated, leaving no trace that somebody had been there.

**12 Grimmauld Place**

Dumbledore was busy choosing which professors would assist the next year's first year Muggle-born students to find Diagon Alley and buy their things, when an Auror appeared in front of him. With a quick motion, the Auror's hair changed from a drab brown color to a vivid hot pink.

"Hello there, Tonks. Do you have any information to report on how Hermione and the two youngest Weasleys are holding up, given the death of their best friend?" Dumbledore asked Tonks, eyes betraying the false emotions on his face. Dumbledore still couldn't help but blame himself for Harry's death, and while he knew that Riddle had thought of every possible complication, the headmaster still couldn't shake the feeling that he could have prevented the tragedy.

"Actually, yes!" Tonks reported gleefully. She took a step towards a chair… and tripped over her own feet. She shot up quickly, bolted over to the armchair, and sat down.

"How did you pass the Auror stealth test, Nymphadora?" Dumbledore asked, peering over his half-moon spectacles.

"_Don't call me that!_" Tonks raged at the older wizard. She settled down. "I passed the test because every time I tripped, and the instructor turned around to see who it was, my previous appearance wasn't there," Tonks quipped. "Anyways, I'm here to report what I discovered. And trust me, this is going to be interesting." Dumbledore, obviously interested, put down his quill, capped his ink well, and leaned forward. Tonks cleared her throat before continuing.

"Apparently, Ginny ran into some girl with silver hair named Samantha, and befriended her quite easily as if they'd known each other all their lives, which was strange. And then Ron and Hermione showed up at the Leaky Cauldron, which is where things got interesting. Apparently, this Samantha is heir to some family of wizards and witches that hasn't seen an heir in three centuries, which raises questions by itself. When the four of them were talking, Samantha kept switching the topic every time Harry Potter was brought up, as if she had some kind of problem with talking about the boy. Then strangely enough she knows that Ron's middle name is Billius and that Ginny's real name is Ginevra. When she left, I followed her down the alley, but nobody was there, which was strange because she isn't old enough to have an apparition license. Anything about this sound strange to you?"

Once Tonks was finished, she was gasping for air because of how much she had just said. Dumbledore sat back in his desk, the familiar twinkle in his eye.

"What was this girl's last name, did you find out?" Dumbledore questioned.

"Oh, um yeah! It was, um, Zodiarkus. I haven't ever heard that last name before, and it seems really strange for a name while I think about it, but oh well. What about it?" Dumbledore pulled out a piece of parchment, along with a brown envelope, a quill, and an inkwell.

"And what year would she be in if she had gone to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling ever brighter now.

"Um, I think she said fifth year. Wait, Professor, you can't seriously mean that you're going to send her a—"

"A Hogwarts letter?" Dumbledore interrupted. "In fact, I am. I am very interested in this young lady… and what she may or may not know about Mr. Potter."

**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

The next day, Samantha woke up bright and early. She still hadn't figured out everything about the Temporal Displacement chamber that she was supposed to use for her training with her new abilities, or even what exactly her new abilities were. She remembered Leonidas talking about some scion something or other, but Samantha still had no idea what those were. She also had to learn to fight with her new spear… and figure out more about how she was predestined to become the heir, and how to break the news about who she was and what had happened to her to her three friends.

After a quick shower and a hearty breakfast, Samantha gathered the items that she had retrieved from the family vault, along with the fourteen books Leonidas had told her to find from the library, and headed down to where the Temporal Displacement chamber was.

Down outside the chamber, Samantha found another letter similar to the one she had seen by the spear and in the library. She picked it up, and was surprised when this one had only two words on it.

_Turn around._ She spun on her heel incredibly fast, and came face to face with… a portrait of Leonidas?

"Hello there, Samantha. How are you doing today? Are you adjusting to your new body and gender well?" Leonidas was talking to her through the portrait; just like the portraits of past Hogwarts headmasters, the personalities of the person portrayed lived on in the painting.

"I'm doing quite well, thank you. Also, I think that the spell you cast on me to change my appearance and gender also modified my behavior; I'm acting feminine, as if I were a girl all my life, and I know I haven't." She looked up into the eyes of her predecessor, hoping he could explain a few things. "Leonidas, I found out recently that every successive Zodiac Keeper was predestined several centuries before actually becoming the keeper. Can you explain to me why I had to have my gender changed if Harry Potter was already destined to become the next Keeper?"

Leonidas let out a long, drawn-out sigh before speaking. "When I was imprisoned and died, the process of pre-selecting the next Zodiac Keeper was thrown awry, and three generations of Zodiac Keepers were skipped. There would have been one male and two female Keepers prior to your becoming the heir, but because of my untimely death the process was cast aside until destiny could intervene. The woman who was supposed to be my immediate successor was born, but never brought into the family as the new heir, and thus the two precedent heirs were never born. You, however, had a role in a different prophecy, and were born for that main purpose, while also fulfilling the predestination of the Zodiac Keepers."

"So if you hadn't been imprisoned I would still be male?" A very confused Samantha asked the portrait.

"That is correct. Three generations were skipped, and as such had they not been the process would have landed with you being the out of family heir, and male heir as well. Unfortunately, as some would say in these modern times, life threw a—what was it?—curveball. As for behaving in a feminine fashion… another side effect of the spell. Personality alteration was all it took, so that nobody would ever be able to tell that you weren't a girl for most of your life." Samantha nodded slowly, trying to take in all the information. The house itself was very confusing in its rules and designations, but eventually she would figure it out, and have to give birth to an heir (the prospect of which she did not enjoy one bit. What if she somehow wound up carrying the child of Draco Malfoy, or even worse, Crabbe or Goyle?) and then train said heir to take up the mantle of Zodiac Keeper.

"Sorry to break you from your daydream," the portrait said with a twinge of humor on his voice, "but I believe I must explain to you the use of the Temporal Displacement chamber. Are you ready to begin training?"

**Diagon Alley**

"C'mon 'Mione, you've been in that bloody bookstore for the past hour! If you haven't found what you were looking for yet, you won't find it now!" Ron was anxiously waiting outside Flourish and Blotts' bookstore, tapping his foot while talking to Ginny, who was just as impatient. But Hermione was inside that bookstore with a mission: find out more about the Zodiarkus family, and just how Samantha happened to be the first heir in over three hundred years.

So far, her search had been fairly… worthless. None of the books that she had found on pureblood or long-standing wizarding families had any mention of Samantha's house, and Hermione was getting desperate. She finally decided that now was the time for affirmative action.

Nobody had known, and Harry's ghost would have killed her a thousand times over had he known, but Hermione had 'borrowed' Harry's invisibility cloak after he died, and had been using it every so often when the need arose. This was one such time; Hermione slipped the cloak over her and used it to enter the restricted section in Flourish and Blotts'.

She found many books in that section that probably shouldn't have existed, including a book very similar to the two Samantha had duplicated for her yesterday. Her curiosity got the better of her as she started searching for the histories of certain houses.

After five minutes, and countless shouts from Ron and Ginny, both of whom were both impatiently waiting outside, she found what she was looking for: the family history of the Zodiarkus family. She pulled out the book, flipped open the inside cover, and very nearly freaked.

On the inside cover of the book was a family tree that extended from the time of Merlin to the future, going all the way down to the year 2600, and probably further if she turned the page. Quickly, she scanned down the list to three hundred years prior, and found something very interesting.

Apparently, the previous heir, who was named Leonidas, had been imprisoned in Azkaban, throwing off the cycle off heir selection of the house. The next three names on the House heir timeline were grayed out, to show that they had never come into their inheritance. Hermione's eyes scanned down to the fourth entry… and stopped.

This entry was flickering between two names, with a single constant being the Zodiac sign Leo. The two names were Samantha Jocelyn Zodiarkus… and Harry James Potter.

Hermione very nearly dropped the book. Instead, she tucked it into her bag (which was enchanted to hide the unique magical signatures of any enchanted objects that were inserted within) and slipped out of the store. She walked a safe distance away from Flourish and Blotts', took the cloak off, and walked over to Ron and Ginny, startling them.

"Blimey 'Mione, where'd you come from?" Ron asked, voice rising an octave or two in surprise. Ginny gave Hermione a death glare, seeming to say 'where the bloody hell have you been?!' Hermione shrugged off Ginny's reaction, and pulled the book out of her bag, showing it to the two of them before casting her eyes elsewhere. She did a quick 360 of her surroundings, and turned back to her two friends, leaning in close.

"Leaky Cauldron. Now."

**The Leaky Cauldron**

Samantha was sitting back in a booth, enjoying a cup of tea while people watching in the small pub. She was still recuperating from spending two months in the Temporal Displacement chamber; though for everybody else the amount of time she spent had been perhaps a few seconds at most.

The chamber operated in a unique fashion: it took the user of the chamber, and their immediate surroundings (in Samantha's case, the manor), out of time; that is to say that the mansion existed in a separate dimension, where time was completely frozen outside of the manor. The chamber was special in that it created everything that Samantha ever needed, from food, to clothing, to a bathroom to shower in, to… feminine necessities. Oh yes, Samantha had had the pleasure of experiencing that time of month for a girl while in the chamber. **(A/N: That was definitely the most awkward line I've ever written in a story… a guy writing about that is, well, er, um, uh *ducks a couple of well-aimed shoes* taboo.)** However, during that month, she had learned of the true powers of the Zodiac Keepers.

The Keepers controlled the powers associated with the signs of the Zodiac through the Scions that represented the signs.

Belias, Scion of Fire, represented the sign Aries.

Mateus, Scion of Ice, represented Pisces.

Adrammalech, Scion of Lightning, fell under Capricorn.

Famfrit, Scion of Water, represented Aquarius.

Chaos, Scion of Wind, fell under Taurus.

Hashmal, Scion of Earth, represented Leo, Samantha's own sign. Hashmal also most closely represented the Gryffindor mascot, seeing as his visage was similar to that of a lion.

Shemhazai, Scion of Souls, was the representative of Sagittarius.

Cùchulainn, Scion of Poisons, represented Scorpio. How fitting…

Zalera, Scion of Death, and otherwise known as the Grim Reaper, fell under Gemini. **(A/N: Want to know why? Search 'Zalera Death Seraph' on Google images, and his image from FFXII should pop up.)**

Zeromus, Scion of Gravity, represented Cancer.

Exodus, Scion of the Cosmos, stood for Libra. It fit well; Exodus always rode on a giant scale.

Ultima, Scion of Light, represented Virgo.

Samantha had yet to discover the identity of the thirteenth Scion, and whether or not she would ever be able to control that one, but she had a strange gut feeling that it was the strange voice that she had heard in the back of her head. She did not know what it was called, aside from Keeper of Precepts, but even that title was strange. What did that mean, Keeper of Precepts? That was a mystery for another day.

Samantha had also learned that by focusing on a specific Zodiac sign, she could not only summon the Scion associated with that sign, but also alter a specific point of her personality. When focusing on Pisces, for example, her imagination ran wild, just as when she focused on Leo she felt immense courage and bravery.

The Scions themselves were very imposing beings, and incredibly dangerous. The hardest one to tame had been Zalera, the Death Seraph. He had wanted to take Samantha to the afterlife as a part of his task as Grim Reaper, thinking that Samantha had cheated death one too many times (surviving the Killing Curse, the basilisk bite in the Chamber of Secrets, getting out of the Triwizard Tournament alive), but eventually she had defeated him and tamed his power. That didn't mean she had to enjoy using it, however.

Additionally, she had discovered that eventually the thirteen Scions would become her thirteen Animagus forms. She was quite curious over how she would accomplish transforming into the male Scions, but she cast that thought aside fairly quickly, thinking that whatever magics allowed her to summon them in the first place would take care of that problem when the time arrived.

Samantha hadn't even noticed that somebody had come to her table until she heard a book slam down onto the table, and out of the corner of her eye saw a hand open the inside cover and point to something inside. Samantha looked up cautiously… and caught the eyes of a fuming Hermione. Uh-oh.

"Uh… hi there Hermione. How are you?" She quickly glanced past Hermione and her eyes rested on two very confused Weasley siblings. Neither Ron nor Ginny had any idea what had gotten Hermione so worked up. Hermione had slid into the booth when Samantha looked back at her, and was still pointing at the single entry on the front cover. "Let me see that?" Samantha asked before quickly snatching the book, and glanced at the cover.

A sharp intake of breath followed. _How did she manage to find the family history… only three copies exist: one in the vault, one in the manor, and the third was lost. Does that mean she found the third?_

"How am I? _How am I?_" Hermione was practically yelling now, while keeping her voice quiet enough to not attract too much unwanted attention. The brunette then grabbed the book away from the silver-haired girl, flipped it back open, and pointed at the entry again. Ron, Ginny, and Samantha all peeked at the entry, when shock practically danced across their faces.

They all saw what Hermione had seen but moments before: the entry was flickering between the names Samantha Jocelyn Zodiarkus and Harry James Potter. The three of them were all staring at Samantha with very angry glares on their faces, each of them with a finger pointed at the entry, eyes demanding an explanation.

"Um… er… where exactly did you find this?" Hermione didn't answer, and the indignant look on Ginny's face was growing. Ron was so mad smoke should have been coming from his ears.

"Is this why you have such a bloody problem talking about Harry bloody Potter?!" Ron practically yelled. Thank god Samantha had cast noise-lessening charms over her booth just in case she let something slip that she shouldn't have…

"Whoa whoa, wait! I can explain! Just… not here. Too many people." Samantha reached out her hand to cover all three of her friends', grabbed the book with her other, and focused on her manor. In a flash of light, the four of them vanished.

Up the stairs, Alastor Moody was cursing under his breath, and hidden in the shadows Nymphadora Tonks was replaying the entire event through her omnioculars, trying to get a clear picture of what had been in the entry… to no avail. The thought going through both their minds was uniform: what was so incredibly important that those three would be so angry with somebody that they had just met the day before?


	4. It's Not A Secret If You Tell Everybody

**First off, a note: If you're going to write a review that's bashing my story, make sure you actually read the story before bashing a certain aspect of the plot… *cough pstibbons cough* decided to bash how Ron and Hermione didn't push for a trial, without reading the part where they were under the **_**Imperius curse**_**. Bravo my friend, you get my "Idiot of the Month" award!**

**Anyways, thanks for all the alert list and favorite list notices, but I'd also like reviews. Of course, if you post something similar to what pstibbons there said, expect a very sarcastic, witty, and highly insulting response.**

**Disclaimer: I only own my plot line. Okay? Happy? Good! (Of course I wish I owned Umbridge so that in everything I ever wrote she died a horrible, gruesome death…)**

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**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

In a flash of light, Samantha appeared standing on her feet, and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all landed rather painfully on their rear ends. Hermione was still stark raving mad at Samantha, as was Ginny, but Ron's reaction made the two of them seem like angels.

Ron immediately got up, went over to Samantha, grabbed her by the arms and threw her up against the wall so he could demand answers.

"You have some explaining to do! Well?! How the bloody hell do you know my best mate!" Ron yelled at Samantha, angering the young Zodiac Keeper. Ron was so blinded with rage that he didn't notice the house crest appear in her eyes, nor did he notice that the signs themselves were glowing very brightly.

Samantha focused hard, and disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing behind Ron with spear in hand. She held the weapon's blade up against Ron's throat, making the red-haired boy let out a small whimper.

"I'll explain if you would be so kind as to stop attacking me, Ronald," Samantha spat with venom creeping into her voice. She pulled the spear away from Ron's neck, and transfigured it back into a wand. Samantha didn't know quite how to say what she wanted to with words, so instead she decided on an alternative method.

She went over to a shelf, and pulled a pensive off of it. She put her wand up to her head, and pulled out the memory of the prison, and of Leonidas' ghost visiting her, as well as the memory explaining her transformation.

Once the memory was in the pensive, she put it out on a table, and beckoned her three friends to come over.

"I don't quite know how to say what I want to in words without sounding like a blundering idiot. So instead I'll let you see the memory; hopefully it will explain things better than I can myself." Samantha went over to an armchair and settled in as she watched Hermione, Ron, and Ginny enter the pensive.

**12 Grimmauld Place**

Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody apparated directly into a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore got out of his seat, very interested at what the two had to say, especially considering the long string of expletives streaming from Alastor's mouth, and the fact that Tonks' hair was constantly changing colors.

"Moody, Tonks. What do you have to report?" Dumbledore said sternly. Everybody was very interested in what had transpired, and instead of talking Alastor pulled out a pocket pensive, put the memory inside, and attached it to an apparatus that projected the memory onto the screen.

Nobody spoke until the memory showed the four teens teleporting away in a flash of light, when the entire order meeting went up in bursts of loud screams, heavily dominated by Molly Weasley.

"Where did she take my children?! If she does anything to hurt them, I'll make her wish she never lived!" Molly was as red as her hair, an obvious indication of her anger. Everybody near her backed away from the woman, afraid that her emotions may cause accidental magic.

"Calm down, Molly," Dumbledore said calmly. He called for an owl, and Hedwig of all owls appeared. He gave the owl a Hogwarts letter, whispered a name in her ear, and sent her off. Dumbledore turned back towards the rest of the order. "Hedwig is being sent to find Samantha, hopefully also leading us to where Miss Granger and Mr. and Miss Weasley are. I am fairly certain that Samantha means no ill will to her new friends."

"Then why don't we go follow Hedwig?!" Molly cried, exasperated. Dumbledore raised his hand, silencing her.

"That, Mrs. Weasley, is exactly what we are going to do. Are you all ready for a search?"

**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

Samantha had calmly been sitting for roughly twenty-five minutes when her three friends pulled themselves out of the pensive. Ron was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, so surprised at what he had seen that he couldn't speak. Ginny and Hermione, on the other hand, darted over to Samantha and hugged her so hard that she felt the wind get knocked out of her.

"Can't… breathe!" Ginny and Hermione withdrew, and Hermione started yelling at Samantha.

"_Harry James Potter_, how dare you not tell us that you were alive! Do you have any idea how much we were grieving, or how guilty we were?!"

"I have every idea how you felt, Hermione. And besides, how did you expect me to tell you? Did you expect some girl you'd never met before to come up to you and say 'oh hello there, I'm actually Harry Potter' and then think that you would believe her?" A look of surprise, shock, and guilt flashed across Hermione's face very quickly, and she just stared down at the floor. Ginny gave Samantha another hug, before she looked up and saw a very confused Ron.

"But… that memory was just a lie, right?" Ron spluttered out, turning redder than his hair.

"Was the memory cloudy?" Samantha asked. "If so, then yes, it was a lie, but since the memory was crystal clear, then no, it wasn't a lie. That actually happened." Ron's confused frown grew larger, and his brow furrowed deeper.

"Then… that means that my best mate is… a…"

"Yes, Ron?" Ron couldn't bring himself to say the word. Apparently, he had been sent straight back to a certain river in Egypt.

"You're a… I mean, you're no longer a… I mean, how is it possible that you're a…" Ron continued to stumble, sputtering out random, meaningless phrases. Samantha grew perturbed, and the house crest appeared in her eyes again. If they had been looking closer, her friends would have noticed that the signs Leo, Aries, and Taurus were glowing, clearly showing Samantha's anger.

"Damn it, Ron, just say it! I'm a girl! Yes, that's right, your best mate is now a girl! Why the hell can't you just say it and accept what happened?" Samantha said, stomping her foot on the ground. For a second, everybody thought Ron was just stunned at this new realization. That is, until Ron's eyes rolled way back in his head, and he fell to the floor, passed out.

"Oh bugger."

**Somewhere over the United Kingdom**

"I'm fairly certain we passed Hogwarts about thirty minutes ago chasing that damned owl Hedwig," Sirius Black called out from over the howl of the wind. "Are we absolutely sure that she's leading us to this Samantha girl?" Sirius didn't receive an answer from any of his comrades. After about three minutes, he didn't bother to venture asking another question.

The Order of the Phoenix had formed a small search party to follow Hedwig to wherever she went to deliver the letter to Samantha. It didn't matter whether or not Samantha was on unplottable land; Hedwig was a magical owl and tracked the recipient of a letter through his or her magical signature, which she identified through the name of said recipient.

The search party consisted of Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Molly Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, and Mad-Eye Moody. All of them were flying on brooms, with the exception of Sirius, who was flying on his modified Harley motorcycle, which Hagrid had graciously returned to its previous owner. The six of them were madly following Hedwig, hoping that wherever this Samantha girl was, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny wouldn't be too far behind.

After another ten minutes or so of silence, a large manor came into view. Everybody was startled at how close the structure was to Hogwarts: maybe two hundred miles from the school.

"Did you ever know this home was here?" Lupin asked the Headmaster.

"No, Remus, I did not. Somehow the home must have been under concealment charms, which have only recently been removed. How I didn't sense them, I don't know. They must have been in place long before my time," Dumbledore replied.

The group of seven swooped down to the house, landing on the large roof. Dumbledore opened up the skylight with an unlocking spell, and levitated the other five down into the hall before levitating himself down at the end.

"Moody, do you see anything with your eye?" Moody immediately looked around in every direction, before his eye fixated on something beneath them… no, _below_ them.

"Four magical signatures, underneath us. Three of them I recognize, and the fourth… well, it's not staying the same for more than three seconds. It's switching between one, two, three…" Moody trailed off. "Thirteen different signatures? That's… unprecedented."

"It doesn't matter. I just want to know what that girl did with my children!" Molly Weasley shrieked, tearing through the manor, searching for a way down the stairs. Mad-Eye let out a small chuckle, and the others turned to him.

"Ron just passed out."

**A few floors down, Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

"_Enervate!_" As soon as Hermione had finished casting the spell, Ron bolted dead upright, and started mumbling to himself.

"Please tell me this is all a dream. My best mate isn't a girl, my best mate isn't a girl, my best mate isn't—"

"A girl?" Samantha interrupted. Ron's eyes grew wide again, and he started whimpering softly.

"Oh no, now it's a group of two girls and one guy… what am I going to do?" Hermione, Ginny, and Samantha all burst out laughing so hard, their sides hurt. Ron just hung his head in shame, and Samantha knew all too well what was going through his head.

Of course, Ron didn't get the chance to put the thoughts in his head (well, lower head) into words, because at that moment a very angry Molly Weasley somehow burst into the room, followed by Sirius, Dumbledore, Tonks, Moody, and Lupin. How on earth did they all get to the manor?

Samantha's unspoken question was answered when an owl flew into the room. Samantha felt a pang of nostalgia as soon as she realized that the owl in question was Hedwig. Her former self's owl flew over to her with a letter in her beak. A brown letter bearing the Hogwarts seal.

Samantha took the letter from Hedwig, who proceeded to perch on Samantha's shoulder, the way she had when Samantha was still Harry, drawing surprised murmurs from everybody in the room aside from her three friends.

She opened the letter, and quickly scanned the contents. She was already familiar with what the letter would say, but read it for old time's sakes.

Finishing with the contents, she looked up at Dumbledore.

"Yes, I would very much like to go to Hogwarts next year." Molly immediately became infuriated.

"Albus, you would let this girl, who _kidnapped_ my son and daughter go to _Hogwarts_?! How do we know that she's not working for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?! We don't!" Molly turned towards Samantha, hands on her hips. Samantha was completely unfazed; she'd seen Mrs. Weasley in this state far too many times to be concerned with whatever the woman might say. "Give me _one_ good reason why we should trust you!"

Samantha didn't answer, instead pointing at the pensive still sitting on the table. Mrs. Weasley was about to say something else, when Dumbledore raised a hand to stop her.

"I think, Molly, that perhaps we should see what Ms. Zodiarkus would like to show us," the wizened Professor said, the familiar twinkle in his eye. He motioned for the other five to go with him, and simultaneously, they entered the pensive.

"Do you think they'll believe what they see, mate?" Ron asked Samantha.

"I certainly hope so," the silver-haired girl replied worriedly. "I most certainly hope so."

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**Okay, not the best ending, but I still think that the option of whether or not to tell everybody who she used to be should be taken out of Samantha's hands. More interesting that way.**

**I would like to thank the following people for reviews: **_**nxkris, GinnyLover14, Shadow High, Angel, and SerenityMoonlight. **_**pstibbons can go dig himself a ditch, jump into it, and light himself on fire for being too stupid to continue actually reading. **

**As a response to Shadow High Angel, of course the way I said that… er… time of the month line *dodges a couple more shoes* was definitely the way a guy would, for multiple reasons: (1) I **_**am **_**a guy, and (2) Samantha used to be Harry, thus some of her thoughts would still be masculine. I'm still deciding on whether or not I want there to be a pairing… that might be interesting. Don't expect Samantha to be paired with Draco Malfoy, and definitely not with Severus Snape *shudders* **

**Anyways, thanks for all the alert list/favorite list addings, and **_**REVIEW**_**!**


	5. How To Keep A Secret

**Okay, okay, I know this chapter is a wee bit late… *ducks under maybe thirty-seven shoes* okay, really late, but let me explain. I have been buried under mounds and mounds and mounds and mounds… (trails off)… of work. Yep, tons and tons of work. I know a few people are going to be angry about my not updating for… has it been over a month already? I don't remember. Anyways, first I'll answer some things that were mentioned in a few reviews I still remember:**

**Alorkin—Would you like to know who placed the rage-inducing potion?... Let's just say every single teacher at Hogwarts will wish they had followed Moody's mantra, "constant vigilance!" Also, as for Snivelly mind-raping anybody… One word: Fidelius.**

**Grimmhearts—Don't worry, it was only going at a rapid pace in the beginning to… get the ball rolling, I'd say. Once the school year begins, then things slow down a bit, but stay rather… interesting.**

**A few people have been rather… disgruntled that I'm letting the Order members know. What a few of you know that others don't, is that not all of those order members are walking out with intact memories… A little combination of Obliviate and Fidelius sees to that. Oh, and for those who are wondering… Sirius will be freed. I'm going to devote a chapter to how they find Wormtail and bring him to justice.**

**What will the pairing be? Let's see… do I make Samantha straight, lesbian, or bi? I'm leaning towards bi… that would be funny. Or will there even be a pairing? Who knows?**

**Okay, I've rambled on enough. On with the story!**

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**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers, Basement Level**

"Har—er, Sam, are you sure you want to just go on an tell them right away? That's… well, not the wisest path you could take right now, and I'm sure that if you give it some time then it won't matt—"

"Shut up, 'Mione. Just watch," Samantha said, slightly exasperated at the brown-haired witch. Hermione clamped her mouth shut, and with a 'harumph', crossed her arms over her chest. Ron and Ginny sniggered at the action.

"Oh?" Hermione asked, hands now firmly planted on her hips. "If you're so clever, then let's see what you have in mind!" Samantha sighed, and raised her wand at the six figures that were currently in the pensive. She targeted four of them.

"_Obliviate. Sopporifis."_ A bright flash from Samantha's wand later, and four Order members were on the ground, asleep: Remus, Moody, Tonks… and Dumbledore. Sam's three friends could only stare in awe.

"Blimey mate… you knocked _Dumbledore_ out cold. How'd you do it?" Ron was confounded completely at her show of magic. Ginny was trying to piece the puzzle together, while Hermione had a grin on her face.

**(A/N: I'm gonna refer to Samantha as Sam from now on. It's easier.)**

"It was easy, Ron," Hermione spoke out. "While they were in the pensive, they couldn't use Occlumency or any other form of shielding, so they were easy targets, even Dumbledore. But Sam, why those four? I thought you trusted Professors Lupin and Dumbledore."

Sam gave no reply. Instead, she had already conjured up a sheet of parchment, an inkwell, and a quill, and was writing something out on a piece of paper. Once she was done, she cast an immensely powerful banishing charm, making the four unconscious Order members on the floor disappear.

"Sam… where did you send them to?" Ginny asked, slightly fearful.

"I banished them back to Grimmauld Place. They'll wake up in their beds in… oh, about five hours. Until then… we wait for those two to get out of the memory." Sam turned back to Sirius and Molly, the only two Order members left that she wanted to trust with this information. Lupin would figure out eventually; his werewolf senses would see to that. As for Dumbledore… the longer he was kept in the dark, the better. Dumbledore was capable of quite a bit more than he let on, that was certain.

For the meantime, the four teenagers waited for the Weasley matriarch and the Animagus to come out of the pensive. Sam only hoped that they believed what they saw…

**Inside the Pensive…**

Sirius and Molly were quite confused.

No, confused was not quite the right word in this case.

Scared didn't fit correctly either.

To be honest, the proper word for their current state was terrified.

Dumbledore, Remus, Alastor, and Nymphadora had all vanished from inside the Pensive the same way that they would have if the four of them had apparated away, but that was impossible. The only other possibility… was that the four of them had been forcibly removed from the pensive.

"Molly… be on your guard. I'm not quite sure what's going on here."

"That girl will be sorry when I'm through with her!" Had Molly been given a pepper-up potion right then, there would have been enough steam billowing from her ears to power the Hogwarts Express.

Sirius was about to reply to the Weasley matriarch when the grey cloudiness that had been surrounding them faded away into a memory, which took place in a location Sirius knew only too well: Azkaban.

Taking in her surroundings, Molly was the first to notice the memory's Harry lying on the floor of the cell. With a hiss inward, Sirius noticed the gleaming circle through which Leonidas entered the cell.

"Molly… do you have any clue what's going on here? In all my years at Azkaban, I never saw anything like this."

"Hush, Black! I'm trying to listen here, so if you don't shut up I'll have Ginny hit you with a Bat-Bogey Hex… _after_ I cast a castration charm or two at you!" Sirius gulped, and promptly shut up.

The ensuing chain of memories left them, for lack of a better word, speechless.

**Unknown Location**

Lord Voldemort had no idea that pain on the levels he was feeling could possibly exist.

Not two days ago, Potter had been discovered dead in his cell in Azkaban. Lucius' plot had worked perfectly… aside from a singular problem.

_Potter was still alive._

Voldemort could feel it through the link he had with the boy. He had even tried accessing the link numerous times, each attempt ending with a horrifyingly painful, and entirely different result.

On his first attempt at accessing the boy's mind, an ancient, foreign magic threaded its way through the link and caused every single patch of flesh on his body to erupt in flames. Had Lucius and Wormtail not been present to cast multiple Freeze-Flame Charms, Voldemort would not have survived.

On his second attempt, all of the blood in the Dark Lord's veins had frozen. He had needed intravenous insertion of frostbite potion from Severus Snape for a period of three hours to remove the frostbite.

On attempt number three, multiple (approximately thirty) lightning bolts had come down from the sky and struck Lord Voldemort repeatedly in the torso, stopping his heart for no less than two minutes. Had his soul been perfectly intact, he would not have survived.

Attempt number four had been far more painful than the other three before it. After attempting to navigate the pathways of the mind link, Voldemort had felt a strange… pressure on his body, and it took him a little over five seconds to realize that gravity was being increased for his surroundings. All of the bones in his arms and legs were completely and utterly shattered by the extra force, and he had needed to have Wormtail magically remove the bones and have Severus give him Skele-Gro.

Every time, Tom Riddle had gone about a different method of accessing the link. This next time… Voldemort was trying to access it through his soul.

Putting up his Occlumency shields, Voldemort drew himself into a state of deep meditation, finding the fragment of his soul that still remained in his body. Confident in his abilities, he attached his conscience to his soul, and then threaded his conscience through the mind link.

His next punishment could be described as nothing short of the Dementor's Kiss, amplified a hundred times and just barely not being completed.

A force that Voldemort could not identify had worked its way into his soul, and was now tearing it apart bit by bit, piece by piece, and then putting the pieces back together, only to begin again. The process was done several hundred times in a span of five seconds.

Suffering from far worse exhaustion than he would have if he had simultaneously created four Horcruxes, Voldemort collapsed forward, but not before hearing a sinister whisper in his ear:

"_You have faced the punishments of Belias, Mateus, Addramalech, Zeromus, and Shemhazai. Do not attempt again, for Cúchulainn's vengeance is far, far worse…"_

**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers**

Two minutes went by. Two turned into five, five into ten, ten into twenty, before Sirius and Molly pulled out of the Pensive.

Sam turned around to look at her godfather and her best friend's mother, but was instantly caught up in a hug so strong that she felt her back crack. Not only that, but the young silver-haired girl couldn't breathe. Nope, not one bit.

"Mum!" Ron and Ginny cried out at the same time. "She can't breathe!"

With great reluctance, Molly released Sam, only to have Padfoot jump onto the girl and lick her face in his Animagus form. Padfoot jumped off the teen about two minutes later, transformed back into Sirius, picked her up, and hugged her like there was no tomorrow. And then, of course, Molly Weasley got in a few… choice words.

"_Harry James Potter, how dare you fake your own death and then not tell us you were alive! Did you have _any_ idea how worried we were?! If I were in my right mind right now I'd… I'd…_"

Mrs. Weasley never finished. Instead, she broke down in tears and hugged Samantha even tighter than she had before. Sam just gave up trying to breathe this time, and held her breath. Why bother, when Molly Weasley could easily crush the breath out of somebody without even trying?

"Molly, let go of my godso—er, god_daughter_ right this instant! You're suffocating her!" It got to the point that Sirius had to rush forward and actually pull the Weasley matriarch off of Sam while Hermione, Ron, and Ginny could only watch. Sam breathed deeply for a minute or two before she answered her surrogate mother and her godfather back.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. It would have been… too hard. I mean, I'm supposed to be dead, and what would you all expect if I suddenly turned up, and in a female body, claiming to be Harry Potter? No, don't answer that. You would all go ballistic. Sirius, you especially, because you would stand for nobody saying anything that could be taken as 'bad' about your godson. And Molly… well, you _might_ have believed me, but then you would have told everybody. And sadly, I think that… I may have to make all five of you here my Secret-Keepers, so that nobody finds out."

All five present were left with jaws reaching the floor. No, not quite the floor. More like a couple of feet _underneath_ the floor. Sam was going to use the _Fidelius Charm?_

"But Har—er, Sam, you can't _really_ mean to do that, do you?" Sirius asked, worry in his voice. He'd already had one bad experience involving a Fidelius Charm and a poorly chosen Secret-Keeper, so anybody would be able to forgive his misgivings when it came to that specific method of keeping a secret safe.

"Yes, Sirius, I do. It's the only way I can think of at the moment… even with all the new powers I've gained, none of them can help keep a secret. One of them can _tell_ secrets, but only to me, and that won't help. So, for the meantime, until I find a way to keep this secret a better way, this will have to do."

Sam pulled out her spear (or wand, as it was now), and pointed at her three friends, her surrogate mother, and her godfather. "Hermione Granger. Ronald Weasley. Ginevra Weasley. Molly Weasley. Sirius Black. Do you five hereby accept your roles as Secret Keepers of my prior identity?"

Hermione and the three Weasleys muttered their consent first, while Sirius kept shaking his head. Finally, he gave in.

"Yes, I'll be your Secret Keeper. I just hope the charm works better this time than it did before." Sam nodded at Sirius' consent, and raised her wand.

"_Fidelius!"_ A strange sound was heard, like a key turning in a lock, and five flashes of light flew from Sam's wand, striking each of her five Secret Keepers, but not causing any visible effect. Sirius, however, knew exactly what had happened: they were now the only six people alive who knew of Samantha's true identity.

Sam opened her mouth to say something when just then, a piercing sound burst out through the manor. The silver-haired teen recognized it as the security wards that tracked apparition being passed through, and ran to the portrait of Leonidas that was hanging in the next room. He was the guardian of the house in his portrait form, since he retained a small portion of his magic so that he could act as a sentry.

"Leonidas, what happened? Who apparated in here just now, and what are their intents?" It was hard to miss the panic in Samantha's eyes; she had felt Voldemort attempt to contact her through the link, but each time one of the twelve Scions currently under her dominion had held him off. If it wasn't him, then who was it?...

"I trust that all of you are here to listen to what I have to say?" Leonidas asked, before quickly surveying the room. The piercing noise shut off when he was done. "Good, because this could require some… explaining. Samantha, do you know what happened when Lily Evans died when you were one year old?"

"Yes," Sam replied, duly confused. "She sacrificed herself to save me, granting me a magical protection that saved me from Voldemort." The Weasleys all visibly shuddered at the mention of his name. Leonidas wasn't fazed in the slightest, and his portrait nodded, staring down at the six in front of him.

"That, my dear, is only partially correct. In actuality, Lily died mere milliseconds before the Killing Curse struck her body. The protection that she placed on you was a mixture of her love for you, her magic… and her life force. After this, some of Lily's life force was held inside you, protecting you from Voldemort.

"After I cast the Bloodline Alterations spell on you, Lily's protection was no longer needed, as the guardianship of the thirteen Scions took precedence, seeing as how their powers are many millennia older than her protection, and thus the life force that was inside of you sought out Lily's body."

"But what does that mean?" Sam asked the portrait. Leonidas chuckled.

"I would suggest you head up to the manor's infirmary wing to see what it means." The six of them were off at a full sprint as soon as Leonidas finished his last word. Sirius had turned into Padfoot, and was busy navigating the corridors of the manor, tailing Sam just far enough to not step on her feet.

The group of six arrived in the infirmary wing, and staring down at the hospital bed, all of the six present were stunned beyond belief. Lying in the bed was a young woman, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. Her skin was fair, not quite pale, but certainly not tan, and seemed to be glowing in the soft light of the infirmary. Her facial features were incredibly delicate, and her fiery red hair made her appear as a goddess.

Sam could only stammer out one word at the sight of the woman in front of her.

"M-mom?"


	6. Lily Flower

**And on to the next chapter! (Pairing still as of yet undecided, unknown whether or not there will even **_**be**_** a pairing)**

**Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, I know, I don't own the stuff that's already been copyrighted. Sheesh.**

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**Manor of the Zodiac Keepers, Infirmary Wing**

Not a sound could be heard from any of the occupants of the small sitting room outside the infirmary. In each of the chairs that had appeared in the room for the six occupants, a wizard or witch was sitting, dumbfounded beyond belief. Nothing the likes of which they had just seen had ever happened in the wizarding world.

Molly Weasley sat back in her armchair, thinking of how to bring the young red-haired woman in the hospital up to speed on what had happened. Ron sat in his chair, in complete disbelief, the same as he had been for most of the past week. Ginny was stunned to a point where she couldn't do much more than stare straight ahead into space, contemplating the situation at hand. Hermione had already run off to the manor's library in search of books, to research what she did not say. Sirius was muttering something to himself, likely rehearsing exactly what he wanted to say to the newly resurrected woman in the next room. How to explain the predicament at hand… he had no idea. The method to the madness at hand eluded him.

Samantha's reaction was the most profound. Tears were streaming down the silver-haired girl's face, mixed feelings of sadness and joy producing the wellspring. The emotions running through her were so profound that her magic was actually broadcasting the emotions to others within a three-foot radius of her, as Ginny found out rather quickly after trying to comfort her. Thoughts were racing through her head. What to say, how to say it, what the reaction would be, best and worst case scenarios, all of these were passing through her thoughts. But one thought predominated all of the other ones racing through her mind: _'My mother is alive.'_

At the same moment that Hermione let out a small yelp of triumph, a house elf came out of the infirmary to tell the occupants of the sitting room that the patient was beginning to wake. Sam made a move to get up, but Sirius' hand on her shoulder stopped the action.

"Wait, Sam. It wouldn't do for a girl she's never seen before to rush up to her and call her 'Mom'." What he was saying truly pained not only him, but the silver-haired girl as well. After all, who was he to keep her from the mother she had spent fourteen years without? "I think… perhaps we should explain what's happened recently, and then see what she says. Hermione," Sirius said, turning to the bushy-haired girl, "did you find what you were looking for?"

Hermione nodded, a slight smile gracing her lips.

"Yes; specifically, I found the difference between Heir Transfer and Bloodline Alteration. Heir Transfer causes the recipient to completely disinherit their prior family, while Bloodline Alteration is more like an incomplete adoption ritual crossed with appearance alteration and," Hermione looked at Sam sadly, "in this case, gender alteration. Therefore, Sam is still her child. Actually, it's almost like there's a third parent instead of a completely different family. You're still a Potter, Sam, you're just also a Zodiarkus."

This revelation only made Sam sob harder, but this time the sob was purely joy. Her mother was still her mother by blood, even through the spell she had accepted that gave her a new identity.

"That's good to hear," Sam muttered through the crying. "I just wish… there was a little more family resemblance to help me… I mean, I don't look anything like her! Even something small… like my hair…" Sam went back to crying, and didn't notice the slight gasps that had come from everybody in the room.

As soon as Sam had finished her statement, one of the twelve colored streaks of hair on the left side of her hair, the red streak, faded to silver. Afterwards, the remainder of her hair became the same fiery red as the young woman in the other room.

"Sam," Ron said, voice barely held steady. "M-maybe you should, um, look in the mirror?" She looked up, not certain of what her friend was saying, but one of the house elves had produced a mirror in front of the teen, stealing her breath with what she saw. Her hair had indeed become a fiery red, but that wasn't all. Her eyes had changed to emerald green, with a small ring of silver around the iris to attest to the original color.

"Wow, Sam… you're a Metamorphmagus, just like Tonks!" Sam looked at Ginny oddly wondering what a Metamorphmagus was and who Tonks was. Ginny saw the unspoken questions in Sam's eyes, and answered for her.

"Oh wait, I forgot, you haven't met Tonks yet. Um, she was one of the six who came barging in here… the one with hot pink hair? That's her. Anyways, um… a Metamorphmagus is a wizard or witch who can alter his or her physical appearance at will. Not all of them can do so to the same extent, so your abilities might only be for your hair and eye color. I don't know."

Sam sighed, and Sirius got up, walking into the other room. He wanted to do this explaining… alone.

Sirius walked in to the infirmary, and he saw the red-haired woman leaning up in her bed, taking in her surroundings and eating a bowl of soup. _Her first meal in fourteen years,_ Sirius thought grimly. When her gaze settled on Sirius, she dropped her spoon and could do naught but stare.

"S-Sirius? Where am I? What's going on? What year is it? _Where's Harry?_" Sirius took in a long, drawn out sigh, any vestige of what made him a Marauder gone from his eyes. He was deadly serious **(A/N: Pun not intended)**, and couldn't have cracked a joke if he tried.

"Lily… it's been too long. Fourteen years, actually." The black-haired Animagus made his way over to the chair next to Lily's bed, and sat down. He couldn't help but stare at Lily. Because of her death and highly unexpected resurrection, she was only twenty-one years of age physically. Her soul, on the other hand, was thirty-five years old, even though it didn't show. How life had been returned to her… he didn't know, and doubted he would ever find out.

"I'm not really sure where to start, so if you'll bear with me through the whole story without interruptions," Sirius said, and Lily crossed her arms over her chest, "then we'll get through this quickly. Um… let's see where to start." Sirius sat back in his seat, his eyes slightly glazing over because of his thoughts.

"You have been dead for fourteen years. James is still dead, because he died from the Killing Curse, while you apparently used your life force, magic, and love to shield Harry. So much has happened since then. I went after Peter so that I could have my revenge for you, but he set me up, killed thirteen Muggles, cut off his finger, and escaped. I spent thirteen years in Azkaban for his crime." Lily gasped, her eyes misting over from what Sirius said. "I'm not done yet Lily, not even close. Harry was sent to live with the Dursleys—"

"He _WHAT?!_ I specifically said he wasn't to go anywhere _near_ the Dursleys! Why would he—"

"Blood wards," Sirius interrupted. "Because Petunia is your sister, blood wards could be erected that would keep out anybody bearing the Dark Mark. Anyways, Harry grew up at the Dursleys without any idea that magic existed. Hagrid visited him on his eleventh birthday, and introduced him to the world of magic."

Sirius trailed off, and began recounting Harry's various adventures as he'd heard them: the fiasco with the Philosopher's Stone, and Voldemort being a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell's head. He went on to talk about Harry's killing the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, then went on to Harry's third year and his own escape from Azkaban (without failing to mention Harry's repelling over a hundred Dementors with a stag Patronus), and finally rested on the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"After the tournament," Sirius said, reaching the end of his tale after well over half an hour, "Harry went back to living with the Dursleys. Not long before Harry's birthday, the blood wards were at a… weak point, and a Death Eater broke into the house, took Harry's wand, and murdered the Dursleys with it. The Death Eater was Lucius Malfoy, and he wound up framing Harry for their murders, as well as for the murder of Cedric Diggory at the end of the tournament." Sirius' eyes misted over in sadness. Recounting the tale was difficult; he hadn't expected it to be this hard. The emotions were flooding through him, and he was also more than a little afraid of what Lily would say next.

"Harry was framed, all of the Hogwarts staff dosed with a rage-inducing potion, and Harry's best friends, along with Minister Fudge, put under the Imperius so that Harry couldn't get a trial. He was sent to Azkaban… maximum-security level. There… well, let's just say Trelawney's prophecy wasn't the only thing about Harry's destiny. His stay in Azkaban revealed the 'power that the Dark Lord knows not' portion, that's undeniable.

"Apparently, Harry's birth had been predicted centuries before, and was designated as the heir to a millennia old pureblood house tasked with guarding some ancient power. I don't understand it one bit, but I don't think You-Know-Who will be able to measure up to even a fraction of that power. But… well, there was a catch. In order to inherit the power, and Harry was the only one who would be able to for at least a hundred years, he had to… allow himself to be changed into a girl."

Sirius was expecting a horrified reaction from Lily. When he turned to look at her, the red-head's reaction could only be described as pleasant surprise.

"I know it's weird to think of it this way, Sirius, but… well, my son just became the daughter I never lived long enough to have." A faint smile played across Lily's face, a reaction that was completely the opposite of what Sirius was planning for. Then again, hope for the best, plan for the worst. "What is Harry's name now, Sirius?"

"Her new name is Samantha. I know that if you had a daughter you wanted to name her Rose…"

Lily just shook her head. "I don't care. She's still my daughter, and my daughter by any name will still be my daughter. Besides, Samantha's a pretty name. What does she look like?"

Sirius stiffened a little. "Er… from what I've seen, she has some Metamorphmagus abilities. Her hair and eyes are normally a silver color now, but she was worried about not having enough of a family resemblance when her hair turned the same red as yours, and her eyes the same green. Not sure if she knows how to control it… I'm pretty sure she's going to be able to become an Animagus too." Sirius paused. "Do you, erm, want to see her?"

Lily nodded, but no sooner than she finished nodding did a blur of red hair burst out from the other room, and wrap around Lily in a large hug. She looked down, and saw a near exact replica of herself when she was fifteen.

Sam looked up at her mom, and tried to say something, but started crying, the tears spilling down her cheeks. Lily pulled the crying girl closer, and burst into tears of joy herself.

Sirius, not wanting to ruin the moment, carefully crept out of the room. This was something that wasn't meant for his eyes to see.

**************************************************************

**12 Grimmauld Place, Order Headquarters**

Dumbledore awoke from Samantha's sleeping charm first, to find himself lying on a very comfortable bed. Panic gripped the old wizard as he scanned through his memories, finding a missing patch immediately after walking into the room where that Samantha girl had been with Ms. Granger and Mr. and Ms. Weasley. And yet, for some reason, he wasn't worried in the slightest. He couldn't place it, but the silver-haired girl wasn't malevolent in the slightest.

Dumbledore rose up from the bed, and made his way down to the kitchens of Grimmauld Place. He conjured himself a bag of lemon drops, as well as a kettle of tea and a tea set before dispelling the sleeping charm from the other Order members that had been with him.

Once again, worry seized Dumbledore as he realized that had only dispelled three sleeping charms, opposed to the five he was expecting. Using his Legilimency, he noted that Molly Weasley and Sirius Black were missing. Were they still at that girl's manor? He just didn't know… but he had to find out.

The venerable Headmaster made his way over to the fireplace, threw some Floo Powder into the fire, and called out a name loud and clear: "Sirius Black!"

The fire turned green, and ten or so seconds later, Sirius' head appeared in the flames. He didn't seem worried or tried at all. In fact, he seemed happier than he had even been, aside from when he had first seen his godson.

"Sirius, thank Merlin you're safe. Where are you?"

"Hang on, Albus, just one moment." Sirius' head disappeared from the fire, to reappear a moment or two later. "Albus? I think it would be better if you came here. Just step into the fire." Dumbledore nodded, and stepped into the fireplace, traveling through the Floo network. He was searching around the network through the gateways until he saw Sirius waving at him through an opening he hadn't seen before. Dumbledore made his way over to Sirius, and stepped out of the fireplace.

"Hello, Professor," Hermione said politely. "Well, Sirius? Are you going to tell him, or do I need to drag her out here myself?" Sirius grumbled something incoherently before making a motion with his arms that would most easily represent 'come on out'. A door opened behind Dumbledore, causing the Headmaster to turn around… and freeze.

Coming out of the door, was somebody that, by all rights, was supposed to be dead. Actually, she had been dead for fourteen years… so how was it possible that Albus Dumbledore was staring at Lily Potter?

"Albus," she said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "It's good to see you. How is Harry?" Dumbledore could only look down at the floor, the twinkle gone from his eyes.

"Harry… is dead, Lily. I'm so sorry that—" The Headmaster couldn't finish. Lily had pulled back her arm, and slapped him across the face so hard that he nearly fell over from the force of the blow. He hadn't expected that…

"I already know that, Dumbledore, and I know that you're part of the cause. How could you? You treated him as though he were your grandson!" Dumbledore could only bow his head in shame, and look away. He didn't want to meet Lily's eyes, afraid of what he may find.

"I'm sorry that I came," the aged wizard said. "I'm glad to know that you're alive, Lily, even though I don't know how. I will be leaving now. Sirius, Molly, don't forget: the next Order meeting is in three days. Lily, if you would like to resume your position as an Order member, you may attend."

"Actually, Albus, I was going to spend some time with the girl responsible for my being here right now," Lily said fiercely. Albus looked up, and noticed Samantha standing at Lily's side. He was shocked to notice, however, that Samantha's eye and hair color were shifting from her own to Lily's every few moments. The older wizard nodded, and then reached into the jar above the fireplace, grabbed some Floo powder, and left.

Lily looked down at Sam. "I guessed you didn't want him to know who you used to be," she said, with a smile gracing her lips. Sam's eyes had misted over, and Lily hugged her close. She didn't want to know what the girl had experienced at the hands of the Dursleys. Lily only wished that they had still been alive so that she might mete out her own justice.

Lily broke from the embrace with her daughter, and placed her hands on the teen's shoulders. "I know you got a Hogwarts letter with your supply list, so why don't we go to Diagon Alley to pick up your supplies?" Sam looked up at her mom, and nodded.

"I don't see why not. Besides," she said, slightly saddened, "I'll finally get to know the mother I should have always had." Tears of joy sprang to Lily's eyes, and the two of them walked over to the fireplace. She pulled some Floo Powder, called out "Diagon Alley" in a forceful voice, and then the two young women stepped through the fireplace, disappearing.

**The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley**

Lily and Sam emerged from the Floo Network, and quickly brushed the soot off of their clothing. Lily had found the time to change, and luckily the Manor of the Zodiac Keepers could conjure clothing of any type. Of course, that wouldn't stop Lily from dragging her daughter all over the alley in a shopping trip…

Sam pulled out her Hogwarts letter, surveying the supply list she would need to buy. She looked up at her mom, and changed her appearance so that she appeared as a fifteen-year-old version of the other woman.

"Where to first?"

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**Okay, not the best chapter, but I'm going to have Diagon Alley be attacked by… well, I can't tell you. But it's going to be a pretty awesome fight scene. Not just spells, mind you, but that fancy spear of Sam's is going to get some use.**


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